Gardening with nature - gardening for bees
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Why? You buy honey at the supermarket, put it on toast and that’s precisely how
near you want to get to bees. They get into your Coke and can give a mean sting,
besides some people are even allergic to bee stings! That is only one side of
the story. The truth is that human beings need bees to survive
– of the 100 crops providing 90% of the world’s food, seventy are being
pollinated by bees! With bee populations worldwide declining, environmentally responsible people (like the Queen and First Lady Michelle Obama, who both have beehives in their gardens) are getting worried. Therefore savvy gardeners these days take bees into account when planting and designing gardens. How can you help bee populations in your garden?
Plant pollen and nectar rich plants, and plant several of them close together instead of having them scattered singly all over the garden.
· Bees prefer blue and yellow flowers.
· They tend to favour plants in sunny spots and those with scented flowers.
· Sink shallow pans of water in your garden – ponds are normally too deep for bees.
· Bees favour single flowers over double ones – in the latter the pollen and nectar are too deep to reach.
· Be careful with pesticides; and if you have to use them, choose those not toxic to bees.
Colours of the Month – Blue and yellow
(colours that bees love!)
If you want to follow in
the footsteps of the Queen and First Lady and encourage bees to your garden
then beg, borrow or buy plants bearing yellow and blue flowers! What about
Acacia karroo, gazania, mimulus, snapdragons and hibiscus for yellow and
agapanthus, felicia, lavender and scabiosa for blue? 
I've already heard about endangered honeybees and here, in Portugal, we don't see as many colonies are before. I wonder what my breakfast would be if there was no honey...
ReplyDeletesyrup ????????? I don't really use a lot of honey, not much of a sweet person,*smile*; but I do know of the importance of bees and pollination, which is what I am most concerned about .
ReplyDeleteWhat's really needed is more funding into researching the parasites that are killing off whole colonies of bees. A cure must be found before it does irreparable damage.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/03/zombie-fly-parasite-killing-honeybees/
Sorry, forgot to put in a proper link, you'll have to copy/paste the link into your browser.
Deleteyou are totally right and the problem seems to be world wide. REmember the hive I found in my garden and they all died. It was heart breaking , I could see they were ill, such a small colony that might have gotten lost, but the queen was with them, so I thought I could save them by giving them a safe home close to a food source. They lasted 2 days. I sobbed when I saw them slowly one by one give up.
DeleteHey you crazy Dane. You got a beautiful picture of
ReplyDeletethat Bee.. Yes never kill a Bee if not for Bees we would
be in trouble...
I never kill a bee, though my daughter is highly allergic to the sting, so is Russel's youngest. I have a contact, The Beeman for relocating when I find a hive or they start swarming, too close to the house. Now those 2 no longer live at home, I am re-planting
Deletea good reminder..for next year!
ReplyDeleteI have read about this months ago in the garden mag I get every month. That is why I have and still am in the process of changing what I am growing. Have never been one for annuals or deciduous, always evergreen flowering shrubs and veggies. It is also another reason why my garden is looking a bit bare. It is still too cold to plant much in the garden but the seedlings are getting bigger. Feeling positive here as the sun is actually shining today. lol
ReplyDeletehas been an ongoing problem for a couple of years I think, just thought interesting the planting list, so more of
Deletegazania, mimulus, snapdragons and hibiscus agapanthus, felicia, lavender and scabiosa goes into the garden this summer. I am off to the local nursery for the specials this week.
I never knew the bee was in trouble.... most of my garden is yellow and red <-- red for the hummers..... if bees leave me alone then all is fine.... I do however spray to keep them from the hummingbird feeders....
ReplyDeletenooo nooo darling , no spraying , nooo nooo.
DeleteI have found they like any colour as along as they can get into the center of them for the sweet stuff. I have a red single rose in particular they love. It popped it's first one flower a couple of days ago. Everything is looking good and healthy and I am starting to get impatient waiting for the best part. A nice good soaking light rain started during the night and will last all day. Not too cold either, we just need some sun.
ReplyDeleteooooooh, your roses are out, do post pictures, must go shoot Mr T's they are looking gorgeous, though not my fav flower, at the moment , sooo pretty.
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